It works very similarly to the electric drip coffee makers. The top portion is the reservoir. If your maker is complete you will see a metal plunger type thing in the reservoir. Pull that out to see the bottom narrower portion of the reservoir. You're not supposed to need coffee filters with these but I do as it keeps the grounds from clogging the tiny holes and it makes clean up easier. I fill the filter on the counter before putting it in the reservoir. Replace the plunger and pour in boiling water according to how much coffee you want. The coffee is best if you make a full pot.

I like the taste of coffee out of an old stovetop dripper better than anything.

Though it looks superficially similar, it's not a vac pot. It's a stove top drip coffeemaker from before the days of electric drip. Many were made before the 50s. When you lift the upper part off you'll see it looks quite different from a vac pot. The bottom of the upper pot narrows so it fits inside the lower pot. This narrow section has lots of little holes in the bottom. The coffee goes in there and there's a lid that fits in this narrow section with a long metal handle so you can reach in and push it in or out. Looks like a plunger. There's holes in this lid as well. The water goes in the upper pot, drips through the lid, the grounds and out the bottom of the assembly into the lower pot. It works just like an electric. It's just old school drip.

I have a smaller one made by Guardian (pre-WW2) that I use all the time. I've taken it camping too. Very nice to have yummy coffee in the woods! The upper basket assembly is the same just smaller. I've used it for years. I just bought a Kwik Drip off of eBay because I have to fight to get a cup of coffee whenever I make it. :) The Kwik Drip makes a gallon. I think that'll go around nicely.

If you look up Kwik Drip on eBay you'll find 10 or more listed and there's a least one listing that shows a photo of the instructions that came with it. If you look closely at the photos you can see lines on the upper basket for 12, 15 and 18 cups of coffee. The other two brands I am familiar with are Guardian and Comet.

They don't seem to sell well because almost nobody knows how to use them any more.

If you like I can post step by step photos on how to use it when I get it. I'd do the how to with the Guardian dripper except that it's so beat up and ugly. :D Still makes yummy coffee.

Cali as in California. :) I'm pretty sure I would be too chicken to take the trip you did. I got scared sufficiently when I was talked into white water rafting.

The old drippers were durable too but they had gone out of use by the time I was old enough to notice. They had been relegated to joining the shelves of memorabilia in 50's diners. I do remember seeing vac pots, maybe at the grandparents. My parents used a percolator -ew. I didn't like coffee then for good reason.

What got me onto stove top drip was when I first moved to this house. It was an old much abused repo. There's livestock close by and livestock means lots of bugs. The house had stood empty for lose to a year and the bugs had moved in. One day I fired up the electric dripper and found that a bug had crawled into the reservoir. The only way to get him out was to run water through it. And I found other bugs had got into it. Cured me right there. I didn't want anything I could not immerse or take completely apart and scrub!

Symbols: = New Posts since your last visit = No New Posts since last visit = Newest post

Forum Rules:No profanity, illegal acts or personal attacks will be tolerated in these discussion boards.No commercial posting of any nature will be tolerated; only private sales by private individuals, in the "Buy and Sell" forum.No SEO style postings will be tolerated. SEO related posts will result in immediate ban from CoffeeGeek.No cross posting allowed - do not post your topic to more than one forum, nor repost a topic to the same forum.Who Can Read The Forum? Anyone can read posts in these discussion boards.Who Can Post New Topics? Any registered CoffeeGeek member can post new topics.Who Can Post Replies? Any registered CoffeeGeek member can post replies.Can Photos be posted? Anyone can post photos in their new topics or replies.Who can change or delete posts? Any CoffeeGeek member can edit their own posts. Only moderators can delete posts.Probationary Period: If you are a new signup for CoffeeGeek, you cannot promote, endorse, criticise or otherwise post an unsolicited endorsement for any company, product or service in your first five postings.